Avellum and Hillmont Partners have successfully represented Argentem Creek Partners and Innovatus Capital Partners before Ukraine's Supreme Court in bankruptcy proceedings against GNT Group companies Olimpex Coupe International and MetalsUkraine.
Argentem Creek Partners is a US-based investment fund. Innovatus Capital Partners is a US-based asset management company. They both specialize in emerging market lending.
"The victory in the Supreme Court was a significant step in the course of protecting foreign investors from the misconduct of the former management of the GNT Group of Companies," Avellum announced. According to the firm, "the US investors were forced to initiate enforcement proceedings against the GNT Group as a debtor under the facility agreements due to the group’s systematic failure to perform its loan obligations. Despite multiple extensions granted by the US lenders, the GNT Group did not even begin to perform its obligations to its creditors. Instead, the debtor initiated a series of actions aimed at illegally withdrawing assets and unreasonably recycling (destroying) huge grain stocks without providing any supporting documents. This left the US investors with no choice but to resort to legal debt collection mechanisms."
According to Hillmont Partners, "in order to protect the assets, Madison Pacific Trust Limited, a credit agent acting on behalf of ACP, initiated bankruptcy proceedings against two GNT Group companies – Olimpex Coupe International Limited Liability Company (Olimpex) and MetalsUkraine Corporation Ltd (MetalsUkraine). During the first six months of 2023, the Economic Court of the Lviv Region opened bankruptcy proceedings against Olimpex and MetalsUkraine, appointed bankruptcy trustees, and imposed a moratorium on the settlement of creditors’ claims."
Finally, on November 15, 2023, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Madison Pacific Trust Limited on the cassation appeal filed by the former owners of the GNT Group against Olimpex and, on November 16, 2023, on the cassation appeal filed against MetalsUkraine. "The Supreme Court confirmed the validity and justification of the decisions of the Economic Court of the Lviv Region and the resolutions of the Western Economic Court of Appeal," the firms reported. "These decisions will help prevent the GNT Group from further illegally withdrawing the property of Olimpex and MetalsUkraine, which are involved in the grain corridor. This will help to keep a significant number of jobs and maintain substantial revenues to the state budget of Ukraine, which is important for the smooth operation of the port industry during the war."
The Avellum team was led by Senior Partner Kostiantyn Likarchuk and Partner Vadim Medvedev.
The Hillmont Partners team was led by Senior Partners Valentyn Zasukha and Andrii Nyzhnyi and Partner Andrian Artsishevsky.